Suburban Office Market Improving

Rents for Class A office space in the suburbs of Baltimore have increased by 7.7% so far this year, while rents downtown has decreased an average 3.31% according to a report in the recent issue of the Baltimore Business Journal. This can largely be attributed to the mission expansions at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Hartford County and Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County. After two years of flat growth this is welcome news for office developers and may help more projects move off the drawing boards and into the ground in HoCo. Already, Greenebaum & Rose has dusted off their plans and started construction on Maple Lawn IV, a 105,000 square foot four story Class A office building in the Business District of Maple Lawn.

It’s pretty much the same story in DC burbs as well. According to this story by V. Dion Haynes in The Washington Post yesterday, the DC area “added a net of 20,000 public and private sector jobs during the past year, according to the government. Growing payrolls often prompt employers to look for more space.”

A clearer picture of the HoCo office situation will emerge next week when the HoCo Economic Development Authority hosts its 2010 Commercial Real Estate Tour. This event is held every eighteen months and provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the HoCo office market for regional commercial real estate brokers, bankers, and architects. This year the tour will kick off with a breakfast in the newly completed EmersonOne, one of only two Class A office projects completed in HoCo this year.